


carrie

by totallyfxcked



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, F/F, Minor Character Death, big bucket of blood gets poured on her head, hey heads up there is a lot of mentions of blood in this, like seriously, small character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-01 12:01:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15142640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/totallyfxcked/pseuds/totallyfxcked
Summary: in which kevin's musical goes just a bit differently.





	1. Chapter 1

cheryl blossom was on stage, waving like the queen carrie was. archie was beside her, applauding. this was the scene that they had rehearsed over and over again.

she expected it when she heard the teetering of the bucket. she expected the look of shock and sick pleasure on the audience's face. what she did not expect, however, was to be covered in a warm, sticky substance.

her reaction wasn't at all acted; they had rehearsed with water with some food coloring in it, and that's not what this was. of course they could've afforded something more realistic, but they didn't really want it. in a town like riverdale where murder was always too high a possibility, neither kevin nor the principal wanted to provoke some unwanted feelings.

cheryl was frozen still, her breaths ragged as she looked at the substance. her heart was beating fast as she looked around her for someone who knew. who could understand. tears brimmed in her eyes; cheryl wasn't an easy crier, but this was not something she'd seen coming.

archie seemed to realize there was something wrong too, since a few specks of the liquid had hit him as well. he took a slow step towards cheryl, eyes wide.

"this isn't what we rehearsed with," she said softly, looking sidestage at toni, who had a confused expression painted on her face.

no one moved. no one understood that something was wrong. something was dreadfully wrong.

"didn't you hear me?" she said, panic rising steadily in her voice as she gazed at the blood drenching her. "this isn't what we rehearsed with!"

kevin rose slowly from his spot in the theater as the crowd began to murmur things cheryl couldn't hear to each other. toni, understanding that her girlfriend's tears weren't for the stage, rushed towards her.

"this isn't what we rehearsed with! _whose blood is this?_ " cheryl exclaimed, her voice catching in her throat as she finally began to cry.

the audience stood; they knew. they understood. this was no longer a school play. it was a crime scene. everything began to move very fast, too fast for cheryl to focus on.

someone had closed the curtains, and toni had taken her hand and lead her offstage, saying something about how she couldn't wash the blood off yet, they didn't know whose it was.

sheriff keller materialized backstage, asking cheryl to answer some questions. the red-head blinked in response, tears leaving tracks of bloodless skin on her cheeks. it was something straight out of a horror movie. she turned to toni with a silent plea: _"don't make me go alone."_

she seemed to understand, as she looked right back up at the sheriff and said something about how cheryl couldn't be by herself right now, and that her awful mother wouldn't be of any assistance. _i can go, she trusts me._ keller nodded reluctantly, motioning for the two to follow him.

toni put a tentative arm around her blood-soaked girlfriend, shamelessly apathetic towards the blood now wetting her own sleeve.

"it's gonna be okay, cherry bomb. i promise," she whispered, her voice blurry and distant to cheryl's ears.

the only thought that she could process was that she was covered in blood. warm blood. the blood of someone she knew. the blood of someone from riverdale. all she could hear was a faint ringing and that sound of her own heart beating.

before she knew what was happening, she was sitting at a table across from the sheriff.

"forensics is here," he was saying. "there's enough blood on the stage for us to find out whose it is. you can wash it off yourself, if you'd like."

"if i'd like?" cheryl repeated, her voice lacking its normal snark.

"come on, honey. let's go get you cleaned up, alright?" toni said, barely acknowledging the blood that had found its resting place on her own fingers and all across her own costume.

cheryl nodded, allowing toni to lead her away to the showers.

"i'm going to text veronica," she said to cheryl when they arrived. "she's going to bring your clothes."

"they're technically your clothes," cheryl said softly, attempting to crack a smile that almost instantaneously faded.

"what's mine is yours. you know that."

the small attempt at comfort did little to nothing to lift cheryl's spirits; she was still covered in blood. toni sighed sadly.

"do you want me to come with you?" she asked.

cheryl looked up at toni silently, the look in her eyes asking the pink-haired girl's question. _i don't want to be alone,_ it said. _i don't want to be alone ever again._

toni nodded, wrapping her arm around cheryl and gently guiding her over to the showers.

the red-head barely even noticed when the water began to pour over her. she only looked at the floor as the blood drip, drip, dripped down the drain. she looked at her satin dress, the one she had made especially for his performance.

"i think you have to take your dress off," toni said, no ulterior motives behind the statement. she only wanted to help her girlfriend.

cheryl took a breath, nodding slowly as her lip quivered.

"can you- can you get the zipper?" she asked, her voice barely there.

"of course."

cheryl slipped off her dress, doing everything she could to scrub every drop of blood off of her. the initial shock had worn off, and she was left with the feeling that she would never be clean again.

her brain desperately tried to normalize the events, telling her that she would definitely have to throw away that bra when she got home. that her satin dress was ruined. she didn't care about some satin dress or some lacey underwear. she cared that someone was dead.

the passage of time seemed to be an odd concept; it sped up and slowed down at random and unpredictable intervals. suddenly, there was a towel wrapped tightly around her, and toni was standing there with a duffel bag full of clothes in her hands.

"veronica came through," toni said, still not taking care of her own costume.

cheryl smiled, no true happiness behind it. "all she had to do was bring a bag."

she took the bag from her girlfriend nonetheless, drying her hair a little bit more before getting dressed. it was a slow process that one would think would make her feel at least a tiny bit better; they would've thought wrong.

a sick feeling rested in her stomach, and she was sure that nothing would be the same. students had died before. adults had died before. murder at riverdale was almost old news, but this was different.

this was on school grounds. this murder was for show. it was made to entertain.

"do they know whose it is?" she asked uncertainly.

"i'm sorry, cherry. it's only been, what, twenty minutes? i'm sure they'll let us know as soon as they can."

she tried to think of all the people it could be. who wasn't in the audience? maybe cheryl didn't even know them. oh, how much easier it would be if she didn't know them. she licked her dry lips, cringing at the metallic taste of blood.

a taste she would never be used to.


	2. the name

cheryl's pink satin gown had quickly been replaced with an all-black ensemble, including a dress that screamed dramatic and a cape that did the same. she had burned the dress, watching closely as the satin faded to ash. toni had been sitting by her side, assuring cheryl that she wasn't going anywhere.

midge.

that was her name. the blood she drowned in was midge's blood. she was soaked in midge, drowned in midge, destroyed by midge. destroyed by a sweet girl who had been killed to send a message. cheryl was certain that it was impossible to hold a grudge against her; she was too kind. she had been one of the sweetest girls cheryl had ever known.

she wanted to scream and throw a tantrum and bring her back. (she was only a child.) cheryl reasoned with no one, her mind pleading although there was no one listening. she shouldn't have to be afraid. midge shouldn't have had to be afraid. the only thing the girl had to fear was making sure she memorized her lines.

the casket was going down, down, down into the cold, unforgiving dirt. it was empty, only filled with lost hopes and a full life never lived. cheryl seldom cried in public; it made her feel weak. this time, she reasoned that she already felt weak. she already felt helpless; a friend was gone.

midge.

riverdale was a town of murder. according to the black hood, riverdale was a town of sin. maybe he was right, she thought. midge was dead, and somebody else would be killed next week. though everyone hated it, that was the way things were. midge's name would be forgotten, just like jason's or mustang's or anyone else who met their gruesome end in this godforsaken town. they would be poison on the tongue of any damned fool who didn't know any better.

suddenly, cheryl became cognizant of the fact that much time had passed. she was standing look at the casket with only the company of toni and the parents of the deceased. they were crying, her mother especially; their shoulders wobbling and their lips quivering. the whole ordeal brought tears to cheryl's eyes as well.

all she could remember was the blood, the way it covered her body. the way it felt against her skin would never leave her head. whenever she closed her eyes, all she could see was it dripping away, just like midge would. she would drip away until the town didn't even remember her name.

"are you okay, cherry?" toni asked gently, rubbing circles into cheryl's hand.

"this town is a graveyard," cheryl said, closing her eyes and letting a few dramatic tears slip down her cheeks. "we're all dead people walking. we don't know who's next. it could be any of us."

"hey." toni started, turning cheryl's cheek so that they were facing each other, eyes locked on one another. "i won't let anything happen to you."

"it's not me that i'm worried about." another tear. "it was never me that i was worried about."

she took a deep breath in a bootless attempt to comfort herself. "it was you. and veronica. and betty. and josie. and archie. and even jughead. and valerie! and all my vixens! and... and midge!"

toni pulled cheryl into a hug quickly, feeling tears spring to her own eyes as the red-head sobbed into her shoulder.

"i-i know that i'm never safe in my own house. i don't know know what they're going through, but i wanted them to be safe with me. safe at school, or-or cheerleading practice, or on stage at the musical!"

"honey, that's so brave of you, okay? it's not your job to protect them. this shouldn't have happened, but it's not your fault. i promise."

"but toni-"

"did you kill her, cheryl?"

"what?"

"did you kill midge?" toni asked, pretending that saying the words out loud didn't drive a stake through her heart.

"no, of course not-"

"then it isn't your fault. it's as simple as that."

cheryl nodded, allowing toni to pull her into a hug. she didn't reciprocate the motion, only closed her eyes and did her best to have a second of peace.

isn't that what midge would have wanted?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you guys wanted the second chapter so here it is!! i hope you liked it:)


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